MCP servers

Avalara Tax Registrations and Business Licenses MCP server

Overview

Provides access to Avalara Tax Registration and Business Licenses APIs for creating License Guidance, License Filing, Sales Tax Registration, Payroll Tax Registrations Only (PTR), and Unemployment Insurance Registration orders, as well as questionnaire management, industry regulation lookups, and filing authority data.

How to connect to MCP server

Contact partner support to get your credentials (client_id and client_secret).

Generate a token by calling:

curl --location 'https://identity.avalara.com/connect/token' \
--data-urlencode 'grant_type=client_credentials' \
--data-urlencode 'client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID' \
--data-urlencode 'client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET' \
--data-urlencode 'resource=https://mcp.avalara.com/bl'

Once generated, paste the token into the MCP client configuration under the Authorization header.

Use the following JSON configuration for the MCP clients:

{
  "avalara-bl": {
    "transport": "http",
    "url": "https://mcp.avalara.com/bl",
    "headers": {
      "Authorization": "Bearer access_token_here"
    }
  }
}

MCP client setup

Cursor

Install MCP Server

Add the Avalara Tax Registrations and Business Licenses MCP server to your IDE

Or manually add to your MCP settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "avalara-bl": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.avalara.com/bl",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer access_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

View Cursor MCP server documentation Link

Tools

Name	Description	Sample prompt
get_license_totals_by_jurisdiction	Provides license totals by jurisdiction for a location and business context.	How many licenses are required for a {business_type} in {city}, {state} with zip code {zip_code}?
get_location_authorities	Returns payroll registration authority counts for a given location.	How many payroll registration authorities are required for a business at {address}?
get_state_regulation_status	Determines whether a business activity is regulated in a given state.	Is a {business_type} regulated in {state}?
get_questionnaire_schema	Provides question keys by question group for registration order forms to support mapping additional information to the questionnaire.	How do I provide the Entity Type when placing a Filing Assist Questionnaire order? Get questionnaire schema for registration order forms. Show question keys by question group for the questionnaire. What fields are available in the questionnaire schema?
search_industry_keywords	Searches industry keywords by text and returns matching keywords with industry keyword ID.	Search industry keywords matching {search_text} for license research.
create_license_guidance_order	Creates an Avalara License Guidance (ALG) order to analyze a business location and activities and returns required licenses without filing them. Supports pre-populating key answers and allows one location per order.	Create a License Guidance order to determine required licenses for a {business_type} at {address}.
create_license_filing_order	Creates an Avalara License Filing (ALF) order for filing required business licenses and tax registrations on behalf of the customer. Requires a keyword and location.	Create a License Filing order for a {business_type} at {address}.
create_payroll_registration_order	Creates a Payroll Tax Registrations Only (PTR) order for one or more locations. Each location requires a full address and supports determining registration quantities.	Create a Payroll Tax Registrations Only order for a business with employees at {address_1} and {address_2}.
create_sales_tax_order	Creates a Sales Tax Registration order to register a business to collect sales tax in one or more locations.	Create a Sales Tax Registration order for a {business_type} in the states {state_list}.
create_unemployment_registration_order	Creates an Unemployment Insurance Registration only order for unemployment insurance registrations.	Create an Unemployment Insurance Registration order for a business at {address}.